Nott another year
by Maraudercat
Summary: Series of one-shots covering a year in the life of Theodore Nott. Written for the Calendar Challenge. Rating for possible violence in later chapters.
1. January 1997

**DISCLAIMER: If you recognise it, it's not mine. **

Written for violet-phoenix-rose's Calendar Challenge.

Prompt: "I'm used to being lonely. It's the only thing I can rely on these days."

* * *

"Fancy finding you here."

Theodore Nott glanced up from Most Potente Potions to see Morag MacDougal slide in to the seat next to him. Assuming a disinterested expression, he pretended to return his attention to his book.

From the corner of his eye he saw her lean back into her seat, a wry smile stretching across her face. Imitating his disdainful manner, she set up her writing equipment and began scratching out what he assumed was the start of an essay. Except that her inner Ravenclaw would have never allowed her to leave homework to the last night of the Christmas holidays. But what else could it be? Theo tried angling his book a little further down, hoping to catch a sneaky glimpse, but she pre-empted his movement, and oh-so-subtly leaned her head on her bent arm so that her hair completely blocked his view.

Probably nothing important anyway, he decided, but after reading the same paragraph on the potential side effects of poorly-brewed Charisma-enhancing Potion three times without actually comprehending it he snapped the book shut, and said "Oh all right, you win. How was your Christmas."

"How kind of you to ask. Quite nice actually, what with Father's side of the family all terrified of You-know-who coming to get them for being a load of _blood traitors_, while the Urquharts and Runcorns on Mother's side are all for the muggleborns to be put in their places. I honestly don't know who was more annoying, my dear cousin Tommy trying to impress us _little ones_ with talk of how he will join the Death Eaters when he finishes this year, or dear cousin Ernie refusing to shut up about all the running around trying to get expelled he did with Potter's lot last year. Combine that with Cattie having another row with the folks about them not signing her Hogsmeade permission slip and you just about have it."

Theo, who disliked both Thomas Urquhart and Ernie MacMillan for other reasons, tried not to smile at her outraged ranting. "Well," he replied softly as Madam Pince swept past, "I spent mine sharing the dorm with the ferret, who is slightly better this year for the simple fact that he has stopped trying to treat me as a friend, and with Ugly-mug Pug-face and Greengrass having it out over who Malfoy likes best in the common-room every night. Still at least there weren't as many people about to annoy me as during the term….what?"

Morag shook her head, smiling sadly. "I have never understood why you classify people trying to speak to you as annoying." She held up a hand to cut him off before he started "Yes, I understand some people can be frustrating to deal with, but really, besides me, Zabini, and occasionally Malfoy or Davis, who do you talk to?"

He opened his mouth, ready to list of all the other people he conversed with on a semi-regular basis, and found to his surprise that he couldn't think of a single one. Turning away, eyes closed, he started when her soft, warm hand rested lightly on his knee. "Theo, don't you ever feel lonely?"

"I'm used to being lonely", he replied gruffly, "it's the only thing I can rely on these days." Still refusing to meet her eyes, Theo re-opened his book to a random page, and tried to become thoroughly interested in the recipe for Polyjuice Potion. He said nothing as she gathered her belongings and left in silence. Four hours and two books later, when Madam Pince came to shoo him out, he noticed the slip of parchment still on the desk, decorated in a swirl of intertwining vines and flowers, the centre filled with a stately eagle and a coiled serpent drawn in her usual practiced hand. A quick glance assured him that there was no-one else to see as he scooped up the picture and slipped it into his pocket.


	2. February 1997

**DISCLAIMER: All JK's. Not mine **

* * *

February - heart

* * *

"I thought when you said we'd be helping him-"

"Crabbe, thinking has never been your strong point, so why bother. Just do as I say and-"

"Malfoy, be quiet and pay attention!"

Theo suppressed a smirk as the ferret turned red, and twitched back to his spot, avoiding Professor Snape's eyes as they flashed in his direction. _That's strange_, thought Theo as the Apparition Instructor began his wheezing diatribe again. Yet now that he thought about it, Snape hadn't been spoiling Malfoy in potions recently, and Draco had almost ceased the butt-kissing routine that had become standard for him and their head of house.

Jerked from his musings as a scramble for hoop positions began, Theo placed himself behind Crabbe, who was again arguing with Malfoy. "-nearly run out. You can't expect us to do it forever. How-"

"I don't know how much longer, all right? It's taking longer than I thought it would."

_Curiouser and curiouser. What's the little amateur Death Eater up to now? _Theo leaned in a little trying to catch every word. Glancing to his right, he nearly did a double-take when he noticed Potter, who had somehow wormed his way into the midst of the Slytherins, unconsciously mirroring his actions.

"- keep a lookout."

_Lookout? What was-_

"I'd tell my friends what I'm up to, if I want them to keep a lookout for me."

It took all of Theo's Slytherin restraint to stop himself from crucioing Potter there and then. Stupid, oafish, thickheaded Gryffindor! Just had to open his stupid mouth and drag all the attention to him. If he'd just stayed quiet then Malfoy might have let something slip, assuming that only Slytherins would be able to hear. But now he knew "The Chosen One" was standing behind him, Theo doubted that his tendency to boast would outweigh the possible dangers of an enemy overhearing.

Full of frustration and curiosity, Theo was unable to focus on apparating the five feet to his hoop, despite having managed the feat at his home during the previous summer. _Still_, he decided, as they trooped back down to the dungeons_, it was probably better that no-one knew that he could apparate_. After all, no-one else had managed it either. Not even Morag, despite being considered an expert after being side-alonged everywhere by her parents who didn't trust the Floo network, or muggle transport.

Back in the common room, Theo slipped into a chair near the fireplace, grabbing his half-finished potions essay that he had started the night before.

"Potions?"

Theo glanced up at Malfoy, and jerked his head in the positive.

"Mind if I borrow your book? Just need to look up the effects of crushed shrivelfig in ageing potions and then I'm done."

Without looking, Theo tossed over his copy of Advanced Potion Making, which turned out to be a mistake.

Theo, when studying, had a tendency to skip from a bit of this chapter here, to a side section there, and therefore had a good half a dozen pages bookmarked with scraps of parchment at a time. While airborne, one of these slips fell out, and was swooped upon by Parkinson who immediately noticed the shape of the vines that Theo had failed to see in the month that it had been in his possession.

Waving it above her head, she announced loudly "Oh look, Nott's got himself a girlfriend. How sweet, a snake and a raven in a heart. Please tell me it's not that MacDougal cow. She thinks she is so good at everything."

Blaise snatched it with glee and examined it, before flicking it to Malfoy, who gave it a perfunctory glance, then waved it away, once again facing Theo.

"MacDougal…that's Tom's cousin right? Pureblood?" Theo nodded twice, and Malfoy turned back to his essay, disinterested. "Could do worse."

Deciding that trying to convince them that she was not actually his girlfriend was a pointless effort, Theo scribbled the last line of his essay, gathered his belongings, and swept down to the boys dormitory, reclaiming the drawing from Blaise as he went past with a stinging hex.

"Better hope by tomorrow morning her teeth aren't grown past her chin, runt." Theo ignored Zabini's threat. After all, Morag could take care of herself against a moron like him. And if not, Theo would pay him back. Eventually.


	3. March 1997

Well, it's been a while. I'm 5 weeks from completing my Uni degree, so once summer comes I'll try and get this finished (even if it is a year overdue).

**Disclaimer: anything you recognise belongs to JKR**

March -Prompt: "I didn't say it was your fault."

* * *

Theo blinked sleep out of his eyes as he buttered his toast. Stupid Malfoy had decided that the night before a Transfguration test would be the perfect time to have one of his nightmares. Muttering, screaming and thrashing about, he had successfully prevented Theo from any rest at all, though somehow Crabbe and Goyle had slept through, and Blaise had dosed himself up on a sleeping draught Theo was beginning to suspect he was addicted to.

Theo yawned hugely into his pumpkin juice, then glowered down the table as Malfoy dropped into a seat next to Tracy Davis. Bloody git, this was the second time this week too, though the other one had been on a Saturday night and so wasn't quite as annoying.

Theo frowned. Two nightmares in the same week that Weasley was poisoned. The only other time that had happened was right after the Hogsmeade trip. The one where the Gryffindor mudblood had been cursed. And, knowing Malfoy, there was only one reason he would be bothered by Gryffindor's suffering. But it seemed impossible that the pinch-faced git could have smuggled in a cursed necklace, or a virulent poison.

Still he did have connections…

He had, of course, overheard Malfoy's subtle boasting at the start of the year that he was involved in something big and important. Theo had assumed from the start that the Dark Lord had taken an interest in him, and no doubt had given him some trivial task like trying to get mudbloods expelled or something, with success being rewarded with the Dark Mark on his seventeenth birthday. But now Theo judged that whatever he had been told to do was far more important-and probably dangerous-than simple manipulations. And any good Slytherin hated putting themselves in unnecessary danger.

Blaise slumped into the seat next to him, dark circles showing under his eyes, despite his full night's sleep. _Idiot_, Theo thought, _everyone knows that excessive use of Dreamless Sleep Draughts makes you more tired_. He considered saying something of this nature to his housemate, but decided against it when Blaise fell face-first into his plate of sausages to the raucous amusement of a group of passing Hufflepuffs. After quickly transfiguring their socks into leeches, Theo prodded the snoring latino in the ribs and towed him along to Transfiguration.

The test had been rather simple overall, though Theo felt he could have better described the required spell alterations for acceleration of the transfiguration with a decent night's sleep. Behind him, Parkinson and Davis whinged about the inclusion of eye-colour changing charms that had been covered way back in January. Behind them, Blaise looked just about ready to collapse. He staggered along, head bowed as if it weighed a ton, barely avoiding collisions with the suits of armour that lined the corridors. He somehow made it through charms, though Theo had to prod him several times when he began to snore, and then watched with disgust as the tall, dark Slytherin passed out again over lunch.

Feeling somewhat tired himself, Theo crammed down a slice of Sheppard's Pie, then removed himself to the Library to finish his Charms homework during the free lesson. Halfway there, a clutzy first year Ravenclaw tripped and threw half a bottle of ink at him, and not ten seconds after vanishing the damage and sending the midget along with a good stinging hex to the backside, Peeves appeared from mid-air to dump a waste basket over his head. Cursing the poltergeist aloud, and wishing he'd had a chance to curse him physically too, Theo slung himself into one of the desks and set up his writing material. He had jotted down half a page on the common side-effects of selective memory charms, when someone bumped his chair causing him to jerk his quill through the entire paragraph. "You stupid clumsy bit-"

He stopped mid-hex as he found himself staring at Morag, her arms full of Arithmancy texts. "My apologies, your highness," she snapped stepping to the side of his wand-point.

"I didn't say it was your fault-"he started, but stopped at the look on her face. She glowered at him for a moment more, opened her mouth to say something, then changed her mind and turned and stormed away.

Theo debated going after her, but decided in the long run that it wasn't worth whatever hex she would throw at him while still upset. He would talk to her later once she had calmed down and forgiven him, as she always eventually did.


	4. April 1997

**Disclaimer: anything you recognise belongs to JKR**

April - Prompt: "Yes, I'm short. Tell me something I don't know."

* * *

The 21st of April dawned painfully bright and far too sunny. Theo, along with most of his year, traipsed up the path to Hogsmede in various states of nervous excitement over their imminent apparition tests. He was not particularly worried about passing, and instead focused on reciting all the properties of snargaluff and tentacula seeds in potions under his breath, in an attempt to drown out the nervous chatter surrounding him. He had gotten as far as cleaning potions (snargaluff increased the potency of any scouring potion) when Daphne Greengrass' voice broke through.

"How about you Nott? I mean we all saw you do it last week, but this will be harder, don't you think?"

Theo assumed she was talking about apparition, and was restraining the urge to comment on the relative differences in their abilities _to_ think, when Blaise stepped in with a smirk.

"Nott doesn't get worried about things that use his brain like you do Daphne. And look at it this way, if you fail, you can go take the test with Malfoy over summer instead."

Daphne looked pleased at this, and Blaise wandered ahead to talk to Tracey Davis before Greengrass caught on to the insult. Theo glanced between the still chattering Parkinson, Greengrass and Bulstrode, and the silently lumbering Goyle, and decided to slow his pace enough to get free of them.

This allowed the Ravenclaw pack to overtake him, and he blithely ignored them, though Anthony Goldstein gave him a brief nod. They had been forced to work on a paired Herbology project last year, and had managed to be surprisingly civil with each other. He suddenly registered soft footsteps matching his pace, and turned to find Morag alongside him, though she didn't speak or look at him. As the village came in sight, he finally gave in and murmured "So are you talking to me yet?"

She glanced at him (an improvement at least), and cocked her head, as though trying to decide whether she was or not. She had been short with him for nearly a fortnight after the library incident, but apparently decided he was forgiven two days before the Arithmancy test. Until that night of studying in the library together, he hadn't realized how much he had missed her company. At least until a third-year Hufflepuff managed to knock over an entire shelf of books, and he had made a joke about Mudbloods trying to learn by dropping books on their heads. Rather than laugh and roll her eyes she had hit him with an itching hex and went over to help. Only then had he remembered that Emily Wright, one of Morag's fifth-year friends was a mudblood too.

She hadn't really spoken to him since, and when he had tried to catch her after Potions the next day, she had used a stinging hex that had burned for nearly a week after to make him release her arm. Even worse, Blaise had seen this, and kept making off-colour jokes about their "lover's tiff".

"I guess I could stand your company again," she announced finally as they passed Scrivenshafts, "If you can mind your language that is."

Theo winced inwardly, but decided it was worth the effort. "I forgot that Wright was a mu-ggleborn."

She gave him one of her wry smiles, as she answered "well I suppose that's as close to an apology anyone gets from you. And on that topic, I apologise for the stinging hex. It was only meant to last for an hour or two, but I could see it was still bugging you the next day."

"Week," he muttered, though she apparently didn't hear him as the Ministry examiner had started speaking.

They were lined up in alphabetical order, and summoned two at a time to first sign the application papers, and then attempt the test. To his surprise, he and Morag were able to continue their conversation, as her cousin MacMillan, Malfoy, and Lillian Moon were not present. Behind him, Parkinson was asking one of the Patil twins something about Divination, while just ahead a pair of Hufflepuffs were arguing in Welsh.

"So do you fancy getting a butterbeer after to celebrate?" she asked him softly.

"I guess" Theo replied, hoping that the other Slytherins wouldn't expect him to join them. Looking down at her, he saw her chewing her lip as Susan Bones and Terry Boot were led out into the open area.

"Nervous?" he asked.

She scowled at him, then looked away and muttered "a little."

He reached down and patted her head. "Look at it this way, there's not much of you to apparate, so it shouldn't be too hard."

She batted his hand away. "Yes, I'm short, tell me something I don't know."

But she was smiling again, and didn't jump at the pair of cracks of Bones and Boot successfully vanishing. "One for Ravenclaw, one for Hufflepuff. Care for a bet on which house gets the most passes?"

Glancing up and down the line, Theo quickly counted the coloured badges, and said "No bet. Too many Ravenclaws, not enough Slytherins here to make a good contest."

Forty-five minutes later, they were summoned together. "Good luck," she whispered as they moved out into the open. Theo waited for the pop, before he twisted into suffocating blackness to follow.


End file.
